Dear Lord, please protect me from your followers.

All the stories, regardless of whether they're true or false, lead to this main idea. Look at the big picture and don't just argue about stories.The very basis of Christianity, and many other religions for that matter, is in fear and control.Basically what the majority of religions tell you is "You do things our way, and you get to go to Heaven when you die!" (whatever their specific definition of heaven is) People are afraid (fear) of death and find comfort in this statement...so they do what they are told (control).This sounds negative, but it's not always. Take the 10 Commandments as an example. Even people who don't believe in God will agree that these are generally moral and sound rules to live by. Then again, people have been using religion as an excuse to murder, rape, torture, and abuse people since the beginning of recorded history.

The point of all this rambling is to say...chalking everything up to God is the path of least resistance. Be strong enough to believe in yourself, don't let yourself be controlled by people who are being controlled themselves. And most importantly, YOU DO NOT NEED A REASON TO HELP SOMEONE. YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TO BE PROMISED AN ETERNAL REWARD WHEN YOU DIE FOR SHOWING COMPASSION TOWARDS YOUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS.I could go on for days but I will leave it at this.Thanks for reading, -{SD}CM-Slib